TTU to mark Constitution Day with guest lecture

Tennessee Tech University will mark the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution with scholarly words on constitutional law by Robert Bennett, a professor at Northwestern University School of Law.

Bennett will present “Constitutional Change on the Ground: Selecting the President” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, in Derryberry Auditorium. The lecture is the highlight of the Nolan Fowler Constitution Day Celebration at TTU, which commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

In 2005, Congress mandated that all educational institutions that receive federal money must hold a day to commemorate the Constitution on or around Sept. 17. That same year, Nolan Fowler gave TTU $150,000 to endow a fund to support the annual celebration. Fowler was a professor of history and constitutional law at Tennessee Tech from 1962-79.

A hammer thrower and an alumnus of the University of Kentucky, Fowler also coached track and cross country at TTU and Morehead University. He was inducted into the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2001. He died in 2008.

Bennett, an alumnus of Harvard University and Harvard Law School, has served on the faculty of Northwestern University School of Law since 1969. He teaches a seminar in the Law of American Democracy and courses in contracts, legislation, constitutional law and constitutional theory.

Bennett’s lecture is open to the public, and admission is free. It will be immediately followed by a talk by best-selling author Anne Lamott, also in Derryberry Auditorium.

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